Christina Tzani’s “Tender Wounds” @ GalleryX

Christina Tzani‘s haunting solo show ‘Tender Wounds’ brings a new aura to GalleryX in the wake of the new year. Although as dark as many of GalleryX’s previous exhibitions, Christina’s works touch on the poignant subject of child abuse with a raw delicacy that triggers complicated emotions in the viewer. Aesthetically pleasing colours fill the powerfully stark images of hurt children; The results sensitize the viewer to the vulnerable reality for the victims of child abuse, exploring the realms of isolation, abandonment and lack of security her portraits are subjects to. Though often hard to view without discomfort, Christina’s oil paintings and ink drawings communicate a bare naked, worldwide truth that should not be ignored.

Throughout history, violence has shown itself to be a powerful source of inspiration for artists. Delving back to primal cave paintings depicting hunts and tribal conflicts, we can move forward in time through multiple religious scenes of martyred saints and the wrath of omnipotent gods, right into the documentaries of modern wars. Violence is, unfortunately, everywhere. Like many more predominantly negative attributes to life, violence can feed a creative fire leading to the production of truly emotional art. Christina successfully merges a gentle beauty from her use of colour with monstrous images to create paradoxical scenes that will stay with the viewer.

“These artworks lie in an ever-shifting grey zone between beauty and ugliness – they represent beauty that shines through horror, but also unconquered horror that irrevocably stains the purest beauty. Sometimes, the hideous moves us to compassion and mesmerises us through the complexity of feeling that it evokes – can we really find pleasure in contemplating such pain?” muses Giovanni Giusti, owner of GalleryX. “[Christina] creates a distorted, unsettling world of beauty and mutilation, harmony and horror. Her works in ink and oil connect today’s reality and the ominous, unknown outcome of these small wounded lives.”